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Card overview:
- Tim Kennedy is tough as nails and is a well-rounded gamed fighter. He gets a second chance in winning the Strikeforce Middleweight title after losing the first time around against Ronaldo 'Jacare' Souza in Strikeforce: Houston two years ago.

However, the Greg Jackson Submission Fighter has to do it against a well-rounded fighter himself and the man who beat Jacare for the belt at Strikeforce: Barnett vs. Kharitonov last year, AKA stalwart Luke Rockhold. Rockhold possess the all-out arsenal: wrestling, knockout power and submissions who will utilize his height and reach to keep Kennedy at bay.

I expect a good fight between these two.

- Meanwhile, former UFC veteran 'The King of Pancrease' Nate 'The Great' Marquardt makes his welterweight debut for the vacant Strikeforce welterweight title against Tyron Woodley.

Marquardt should be the bigger and stronger fighter coming down from the middleweight division and has the knockout power, but Woodley's wrestling will give him a test to see if Marquardt can get the fight back on the feet quickly.

- Also ShoMMA: Strikeforce alums like the son of UFC Hall of Famer Randy 'The Nautral' Couture, Ryan Couture and MMA veteran 'The Kansas City Bandit' Jason High showcase their skills in the Showtime: Extreme portion of the card.

Re: Mixed Martial Arts - UFC, PRIDE FC, etc.

Attention MMA fans:

The Ultimate Fighting Championship returns to the Canadian providence of Alberta as they present UFC 149: Faber vs. Barao Live from the Scotiabank Saddledome in Calgary, Alberta, Canada on Saturday, July 21, 2012 at 10 PM ET/7 PM PT on Pay-Per-View with UFC 149: Prelims Live on FX at 8 PM ET/5 PM PT and UFC 149: Prelims Live on Facebook at 7 PM ET/4 PM PT.

Former WEC Featherweight champion 'The California Kid' Urijah Faber gets a second chance for the UFC Bantamweight title as he takes on an MMA fighter with one of the longest unbeaten streaks in Mixed Martial Arts, Renan Barão.

Also, Tim 'The Barbarian' Boetsch is going for his fourth straight win in the UFC Middleweight division coming off his come-from-behind win over Yushin 'The Thunder' Okami at UFC 144 back in February as he takes on Cuban-Australian Bellator veteran, Hector 'Lightning' Lombard.

Card overview:
- In his last four title fights, 'The California Kid' Urijah Faber has come up short in the wrong end of the stick, losing all four of them via decision.

The Team Alpha Male fighter might be an all-around athlete and has the speed and wrestling advantage, but Renan Barao, has takedown defense to neutralize Faber and is hard to follow up after landing the first blow.

It can go either way. Let's see if Faber takes advantage of missing Dominick 'The Dominator' Cruz, his opposite number in Season 15 of the Ultimate Fighter: Live with an interim UFC bantamweight title win over the dangerous Barao.

- For Cuban Australian Hector Lombard, the former Bellator middleweight champion makes his UFC debut against a rising heavyweight Tim 'The Barbarian' Boestch who has won his three-straight fights in the UFC Middleweight division with the last coming from behind against Yushin 'Thunder' Okami at UFC 144. It's Lombard's speed and aggression vs. Boestch's strength and physical style.

- For Shawn 'The Savage' Jordan, will be this his coming out party? He's still very green, but he's not afraid to get in anyone's face. He will have a challenge against Cheick Kongo who will have his 17th fight inside the Octagon.

- As for the prelims, the one fight I'm interested in is a battle between two Ultimate Fighter Season 11 alums Court 'The Crusher' McGee and Nick 'The Promise' Ring.

Ring beat McGee via decision during the show, but with Ring out for the tournament with a knee injury, McGee stepped up as his replacement and won the tournament.

It was the same tactics that got former WEC Featherweight champion 'The California Kid' Urijah Faber again.

Renan Barao legged kicked and stuffed Faber's takedown attempts en route to a unanimous decision victory to win the interim UFC Bantamweight title and take on current champion Dominick 'The Dominator' Cruz in a unification bout.

We'll see if Barao's style can match up Cruz's wondering unpredictability.

The rest of the main card was mostly unwatchable.

The main event was one-sided. The fight between Hector Lombard and Tim Boestch was pathetic. Both were unwilling to explode, more like a chess match. Cheick Kongo vs. Shawn Jordan was terrible. Nothing exciting happened between James Head and Brian Ebersole in a uneventful split decision win for James Head.

The first fight in the main card was the only great fight to watch from the main card and received one of my three Fight of the Night bonus honors and a Submission of the Night bonus honor.

Both Chris Clements and Ultimate Fighter Season 7 alum Matt Riddle fought back and forth with Riddle controlling the ground game, but both Riddle and Clements traded shots on the feet. It wasn't until Riddle's trip takedown in Round 3 set up his arm-triangle choke. What a transition.

The preliminary cards in Facebook and FX saved the card.

Another great fight was between two Ultimate Fighter Season 11 alums in a rematch of a preliminary round bout where Nick Ring and Season 11 middleweight tournament winner Court McGee who gets my Second Fight of the Night bonus honor.

Ring defeated McGee via decision during the show, but a knee injury took him ou of the tournament where McGee replaced Ring and went on to win the tournament.

Inside the Scotiabank Saddledome however, it was 'The Promise' who defeated 'The Crusher' via unanimous decision. I had it 29-28 for Ring where both Ring and McGee gave it their all until they had nothing left despite Ring had a 108-68 edge in significant strikes landed via FightMetric.http://hosteddb.fightmetric.com/fights/index/3964

Ryan Jimmo gets my Knockout of the Night for trying the fastest KO in UFC history 7 seconds into his contest against Anthony Perosh.

My Third and Final Fight of the Night honor goes to Bryan Caraway vs. Mitch Gagnon. Gagnon was battering Caraway in a crazy Round 1, but Caraway survived. Gagnon tried to rain down more blows, but Caraway got past them and looked like he was the more energetic fighter in Rounds 2 and 3.

Re: Mixed Martial Arts - UFC, PRIDE FC, etc.

Attention MMA fans:

The Ultimate Fighting Championship returns to national television on Fox with UFC on Fox 4 this Saturday August 4, 2012 Live from the Staples Center in Los Angeles, California at 8 PM ET/5 PM PT on Fox and Fox Deportes with UFC on Fox 4 Prelims Live on Fuel TV at 5 PM ET/2 PM PT.

Who's next for the winner of the UFC Light Heavyweight title fight at UFC 151 between current champion Jon 'Bones' Jones and former PRIDE welterweight and middleweight champion Dan 'Hendo' Henderson?

UFC President Dana White raised the ante for four fighters: Mauricio 'Shogun' Rua, Brandon 'The Truth' Vera, Lyoto 'The Dragon' Machida and Ryan 'Darth' Bader by saying whichever fighter puts forth the best performance on Saturday night will receive the shot at the winner of Jon Jones' September 1 title defense against former two-time PRIDE Fighting Championships champion Dan Henderson at UFC 151.http://www.sherdog.com/news/news/Lyo...on-Fox-4-44559

Card overview:
- When I read that UFC President Dana White said whoever of the four of Mauricio 'Shogun' Rua, Brandon 'The Truth' Vera, Ryan 'Darth' Bader and Lyoto 'The Dragon' Machida impressed him the most will get the next title shot at the Dan 'Hendo' Henderson/Jon 'Bones' Jones winner in the next UFC Light Heavyweight title fight, I did a ranking system between the four in my head.

I put Vera last of the four because he doesn't have an impressive resume especially at light heavyweight.

So, it came down to the three fighters who all had a loss against Jones the first time around.

Bader has the wrestling, but so does Jones and Jones' reach and wingspan will keep Bader at bay again and Bones showed his superior grappling by choking out Bader.

So, it came down to the two Brazilians, Rua and Machida.

The first time they met at UFC 128, Jones overwhelmed Rua with his knees and unorthodox striking en route to a TKO win.

But in Machida's fight against Jones, Machida made it competitive and even rocked Jones in Round 1 before being dropped in Round 2 and was choked unconscious.

Unless both Vera and Bader really make me eat my words, it will come down to Rua and Machida for the next title shot.

Out of the first four shows on Fox, UFC on Fox 4: Shogun vs. Vera was the best of the Fox shows so far.

All four main card bouts had stoppages/tapout finishes and the Fuel TV card did well again.

Out of the four UFC Light Heavyweight combatants, it came down to two Brazilians who are also former UFC Light Heavyweight champions who got the win in Lyoto 'The Dragon' Machida and Mauricio 'Shogun' Rua.

I think Lyoto stamped his authority for the next title shot against the winner of Jon 'Bones' Jones and Dan 'Hendo' Henderson when those two face off at UFC 151.

Machida was magnificent in his win over Ultimate Fighter Season 8 winner Ryan 'Darth' Bader via TKO second round. His counter right, handspeed, movement and poise made Bader crack under pressure.

As for Shogun's win over Brandon 'The Truth' Vera, there's no question that he's a dangerous Chute Boxe style striker, but the problem with him once again was his conditioning. He looked out of shape after battling through injuries in his career and looked slow against Vera.

Also, his focus wasn't very sharp and wasn't gong ho aggressive like he did against Forrest Griffin and Machida the second time around and Matt 'The Hammer' Coleman.

Even though he got the KO win over Vera, Shogun should've done it much earlier to impress Dana White enough and he didn't.

Out of the two, Machida has the best chance of beating Jones based on his style and he did manage to negate Jones' enormous reach advantage in Round 1 of his encounter and rocked Jones before Bones bullied the Dragon in Round 2 sticking him against the fence like a Venus flytrap to set up his choke.

Machida earned one of my two Knockout of the Bonus honors on the night.

Round 2 was close, but I gave it to Lauzon for his 2 takedowns and 5 passes despite Varner having a 30-18 edge in significant strikes landed.

In Round 3, Varner scored two takedowns, but Lauzon stuck a triangle choke from the bottom to force the tap. Incredible fight and an incredible win for Lauzon.

Rani Yahya gets my second Submission of the Night bonus honor due to his north-south choke on Josh Grispi.

My second and final Fight of the Night bonus honor has to go to a couple of TUF alums Season 5's Cole Miller and Season 12's Nam Phan who slugged it out on the feet with Phan getting the split decision win.

Re: Mixed Martial Arts - UFC, PRIDE FC, etc.

I thought that was easily the best card on Fox so far. It will be interesting to see what the ratings are, it's too bad they had to go head to head against the Olympics.

Last night they mentioned that Lauzon was tied with Anderson Silva with the second most bonus awards (Fight, KO or sub of the night), any idea who has won the most? It's not Guida or Sanchez and I couldn't really think of anyone else.

Re: Mixed Martial Arts - UFC, PRIDE FC, etc.

I thought that was easily the best card on Fox so far. It will be interesting to see what the ratings are, it's too bad they had to go head to head against the Olympics.

Last night they mentioned that Lauzon was tied with Anderson Silva with the second most bonus awards (Fight, KO or sub of the night), any idea who has won the most? It's not Guida or Sanchez and I couldn't really think of anyone else.

Joe Lauzon is now tied with the retired Chris 'Lights Out' Lytle for the most UFC bonuses with 10.

Anderson Silva and Nate Diaz are second with 9.

"Being second is to be the first of the ones who lose." - Ayrton Senna

The last time current UFC and former WEC Lightweight champion Ben 'Smooth' Henderson and Frankie 'The Answer' Edgar met inside the Octagon back in February for UFC 144: Japan, Henderson won via unanimous decision.

Now, Edgar seeks to win the belt back.

Also on the card is the 'Cowboy' Donald Cerrone taking on 'The Young Assassin' Melvin Guillard and former Strikeforce welterweight and middleweight titleholder Jake Shields takes on Ultimate Fighter Season 3 alum Ed 'Short Fuse' Herman.

- Buddy Roberts replaces Luiz Cane and Rousimar Palhares for their fight against Yushin Okami after Cane and Palhares withdrew due to injury and was promoted to the Okami fight after Chris Camozzi withdrew due to injury.http://www.mmaweekly.com/rousimar-pa...ami-at-ufc-150

Card overview:
- The last time Benson 'Bendo/Smooth' Henderson and Frankie 'The Answer' Edgar met at UFC 144 in February, Bendo won via unanimous decision. Even though Edgar scored 5 takedowns out of 12 takedown attempts, Henderson was the busier fighter landing more significant strikes 87-68 and had three submission attempts via FightMetric.

Will Edgar show his resiliency like he did in his trilogy against Gray 'The Bully' Maynard or will Bendo repeat his performance like he did in Japan six months ago.

- Also on the card is Donald 'Cowboy' Cerrone vs. Melvin 'The Young Assassin' Guillard.

Both like to trade on the feet, but Cerrone has a significant edge on the ground with his submission game and Guillard has nine submission losses in his MMA career.

- Finally, will there be another new star in MMA? Ultimate Fighter Season 15 alum Justin Lawrence, who trains in Anderson Silva's The Black House MMA camp, makes his featherweight debut as he takes on Max Holloway.

Ben 'Smooth/Bendo' Henderson retains the UFC Lightweight title over Frankie 'The Answer' Edgar via split decision in a great fight.

I had it 48-47 for Edgar in a razor thin main event.

In Round 1, I had it for Henderson 10-9 based on his 11-7 edge in significant strikes landed via FightMetric including a low kick that knocked Edgar down and bothered him throughout Round 1. Edgar scored a takedown, but Bendo was there with a guillotine choke attempt. http://blog.fightmetric.com/2012/08/...icial-ufc.html

In Round 2, I had it for Edgar 10-9 for his 10-7 edge in significant strikes landed including a right hand that dropped Bendo and also a guillotine choke attempt. Hendo took some damage.

Round 3 was a very close one. Edgar had a slight edge in significant strikes landed 15-13 via FightMetric, but I gave it to Henderson 10-9 for his aggression with those high kicks that Edgar blocked, landing his jab and a knee.

Round 4 was Edgar's 10-9 despite Henderson having a 17-15 edge in significant strikes landed, but Edgar scored a takedown and had a guillotine choke attempt as both men landed big, hard shots including Edgar's last shot at the bell that might have won him Round 4.

Round 5 was Edgar's 10-9 for having a 19-16 edge in significant strikes landed in a very close fight.

I thought Edgar got hosed the officials. It seems that he was outworking Henderson and landed the bigger shots.

Anyways, a questionable decision in a great fight that received one of my three Fight of the Night bonus honors.

My second Fight of the Night took 76 seconds, but it was exciting nevertheless: Donald 'Cowboy' Cerrone defeats Ultimate Fighter Season 2 alum 'The Young Assassin' Melvin Guillard via TKO.

Guillard wobbled Cerrone with a left hand as Cerrone came in, but Cerrone recovered.

Once Cerrone recovered, Guillard caught a piece of Cerrone's high kick that bothered him and Cerrone dropped and knocked Guillard out cold with a right.

Cerrone earned one of my two Knockout of the Bonus honors.

The other KO of the Night belonged to Max Holloway who upset Ultimate Fighter Season 15 alum Justin Lawrence.

Two nice body shots sets up Holloway's barrage on Lawrence in Round 2.

The Submission of the Night, and the only one at UFC 150, was to Dennis Bermudez for his standing guillotine choke on Tom Hayden as this fight went back and forth as both guys went for the finish and earned my third Fight of the Night bonus honor.

Well, it was another effective, but not crowd pleasing win for former Strikeforce welterweight and middleweight champion Jake Shields.

Shields took Ultimate Fighter Season 3 alum Ed 'Short Fuse' Herman down three times and controlled him.

Re: Mixed Martial Arts - UFC, PRIDE FC, etc.

Attention MMA fans:

Zuffa MMA's sister promotion Strikeforce is back on Showtime this Saturday with
Strikeforce: Rousey vs. Kaufman Live from the Valley View Casino Center in San Diego, California on August 18, 2012 at 10 PM ET/PT on Showtime with Strikeforce: Rousey vs. Kaufman Prelims Live on Showtime Extreme at 8 PM ET/5 PM PT.

After defeating Miesha 'Takedown' Tate for the Strikeforce Women's Bantamweight title, 'Rowdy' Ronda Rousey makes her first defense of her title at the women's 135 lb. division as she takes on Canadian MMA star Sarah Kaufman who wants her title back after losing it to Marloes 'Rumina' Coenen two years ago.

Also, former Strikeforce Middleweight champion Ronaldo 'Jacare' Souza is back in action.

Card overview:
- 'Rowdy' Ronda Rousey has everything going on for her. The former bronze medalist in the Beijing 2008 Summer Olympics is defending her Strikeforce women's bantamweight championship, promoting her fight on Conan, Showtime's All Access and is on the cover of ESPN's Body Issue and a potential fight with Cristiane 'Cris Cyborg' Santos down the road.

But Rousey has to go through an aggressive Canadian stand-up fighter in Sarah Kaufman who is looking to win her title back.

Kaufman has her own problems. Her only loss was by submission to Marloes 'Rumina' Coenen and Rousey has the same weapon Coenen has: the armbar.

Also, Kaufman doesn't have the power to test Rousey.

Will Kaufman avoid the armbar or will Rousey make the Canadian her sixth victim via the armlock?

- Also, Ronaldo 'Jacare' Souza is back in action looking to climb back in the Strikeforce Middleweight championship ladder and so does Rousey's conqueror, Team Alpha Male's Miesha 'Takedown' Tate.

- And rising stars and prospects, Tarec Saffiedine and Ovince St. Preux want to continue bolstering their Strikeforce stocks.

Another first round armbar win and her fifth tapout win inside a minute into the fight. This time, former Strikeforce women's bantamweight champion Sarah Kaufman was the recipient of the Rousey armbar juggernaut 54 seconds in.

Rousey just attacked Kaufman with her standup to set up her takedown. Kaufman had nowhere to go and Rousey kept adjusting until she got another armbar victory.

After the fight, Rousey called out 'Cyroid' in regards to former Strikeforce Women's Featherweight Champion Cristiane 'Cris Cyborg' Santos to a fight at bantamweight and who recently failed a drug test.

I would like to see that fight: Cris Cyborg vs. Rowdy Ronda.

Former Strikeforce middleweight champion Ronaldo 'Jacare' Souza wants to get his belt back. Knocking out 'The Human Blanket' Derek Brunson 41 seconds into the fight could grab Scott Coker's attention as the #1 contender to the winner of the Tim Kennedy vs. Lorenz Larkin middleweight title bout on November 3.

Rounding out the winners' list in the main card include Tarec Saffiedine who won his third straight fight with an unanimous decision victory over Roger Bowling, Anthony Smith with his triangle choke on triangle choke, Ovince St. Preux goes to 6-1 in his Strikeforce career with a Round 3 KO win over T.J. Cook.

Meanwhile, former Strikeforce women's bantamweight champion Miesha 'Takedown' Tate with her armbar win in Round 3 over Julie Kedzie in the Showtime Extreme portion of the card.

Adlan Amagov had a spectacular kick to the knee and punches KO on Keith Barry.

And Germaine de Randamie and Bobby Green won their bouts via unanimous decision.

In all, the latest Strikeforce event belong to the Rowdy one. Who's next for Ronda Rousey?

Re: Mixed Martial Arts - UFC, PRIDE FC, etc.

Machida ended up turning down the fight (and so did Rua) so now it's Jones v. Belfort on Sept 22.

Dana White really blasted Jones and Greg Jackson for turning down the Sonnen fight and causing UFC to cancel the PPV next week. I know it would have been hard to face a new fighter with only eight days notice but Sonnen wasn't even in training so it most likely would have been a relatively easy fight for Jones.

Re: Mixed Martial Arts - UFC, PRIDE FC, etc.

Originally Posted by nhyankeefan

Machida ended up turning down the fight (and so did Rua) so now it's Jones v. Belfort on Sept 22.

Dana White really blasted Jones and Greg Jackson for turning down the Sonnen fight and causing UFC to cancel the PPV next week. I know it would have been hard to face a new fighter with only eight days notice but Sonnen wasn't even in training so it most likely would have been a relatively easy fight for Jones.

I think Dana White and matchmaker Joe Silva should blame themselves too. UFC 151 was a very weak card for a PPV to begin with. The UFC don't want another disastrous PPV main card disaster like they did with UFC 149: Faber vs. Barao.

UFC 152 can also be questionable despite two title fights as the main and co-main event.

As for Vitor Belfort vs. Jon 'Bones', unless I see Phenom circa 1998 vs. Wanderlei Silva or UFC 43 against Marvin Eastman with his explosive speed, I just don't see how Belfort deals with Bones' reach or even his ground game. Also, this is Vitor's first fight at 205 since September 22, 2007 when he defeated James Zikic via unanimous decision for the Cage Rage Light Heavyweight title.

I also call out other fighters from the UFC Light Heavyweight division. How come no one else stepped up and take the fight on short notice when Dan Henderson was injured, Lyoto Machida was offered, but turned it down and Mauricio 'Shogun' Rua wasn't even asked?

"Being second is to be the first of the ones who lose." - Ayrton Senna

Re: Mixed Martial Arts - UFC, PRIDE FC, etc.

UFC is snakebit this year, Rampage is hurt so his match v. Teixeira at UFC 153 is cancelled and the main event for that show, Aldo v. Edgar has also been cancelled due to Aldo's foot injury from a motorcycle accident recently.

Re: Mixed Martial Arts - UFC, PRIDE FC, etc.

Originally Posted by nhyankeefan

UFC is snakebit this year, Rampage is hurt so his match v. Teixeira at UFC 153 is cancelled and the main event for that show, Aldo v. Edgar has also been cancelled due to Aldo's foot injury from a motorcycle accident recently.

This is a disaster for the latest UFC event in Brazil with Jose Aldo's injury.

Anyways, the 2011 and 2012 injury bugs bitten the UFC in the caboose very hard.

"Being second is to be the first of the ones who lose." - Ayrton Senna

Re: Mixed Martial Arts - UFC, PRIDE FC, etc.

Dana White and the Ultimate Fighting Championship has two new seasons of their TV series, The Ultimate Fighter coming in September.

Season 16 in the U.S. will start on September 14, 2012 at 9 PM ET/PT on FX. Shane Carwin and Ultimate Fighter Season 10 Heavyweight winner and the last IFL Heavyweight champion Roy 'Big Country' Nelson are the coaches this season.http://mmajunkie.com/news/30634/remi...m-et-on-fx.mma

Meanwhile, a second season outside of the U.S. will be aired in Australia called, "The Ultimate Fighter: the Smashes - U.K. vs. Australia" and that will air on September 19, 2012 on FX Australia and ESPN UK. Ultimate Fighter Season 9 lightweight winner 'The Real Deal' Ross Pearson represents the United Kingdom taking on Season 6 alum and Aussie veteran George Sotiropoulos.

"Being second is to be the first of the ones who lose." - Ayrton Senna

Re: Mixed Martial Arts - UFC, PRIDE FC, etc.

Attention MMA fans:

The Ultimate Fighting Championship returns to the Air Canada Centre in Toronto, Ontario, Canada for UFC 152: Jones vs. Belfort Live on Saturday September 22, 2012 at 10 PM ET/7 PM PT on Pay-Per-View with UFC 152 Prelims Live 8 PM ET/5 PM PT on FX in the U.S. and Rogers Sportsnet in Canada and UFC Prelims Live on Facebook at 6:45 PM ET/3:45 PM PT.

Two title fights will be shown inside the ACC.

Current UFC Light Heavyweight champion Jon 'Bones' Jones is a very tough puzzle to solve who hasn't lost a fight via (technical) knockout, submission or decision in his mixed martial arts career.

'The Phenom' Vitor Belfort won the UFC Light Heavyweight title belt before against Randy 'The Natural' Couture at UFC 46 due to a seam in his glove cutting Couture's eyelid 49 seconds in.

This time, Belfort moved up back to Light Heavyweight from Middleweight for his fight in the 205-pound division since September 2007 and looking for his second title win in the UFC Light Heavyweight division.

Meanwhile, Team Alpha Male fighter Joseph 'Joe B-Wan Kenobi' Benavidez and Demetrious 'Mighty Mouse' Johnson will face off in the UFC Flyweight tournament final to see who will be the first UFC Flyweight title holder.